EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA!  READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Megan of Ducks In A Row, creator of the cutest birthday party invitations ever, has totally outdone herself!


Please please please click through to see all the photos, because she put her special little brand of cute on each and every one of the Supercute Sea Creatures.  Science confirms that they are 300% cuter than the original sea creatures.

OMG!  The tiny red hearts glued to the ends of the white-yarn jellyfish tentacles makes me want to hug someone and smother them in kisses!

Comments are turned off on this post because I want you to channel all your comment-love to Megan.

Ansie is a very sweet blogger that I've corresponded with a couple of times.  She created this beautiful self-portrait using patchwork, mola appliqué and quilting.  I think it's so incredibly beautiful!

It was created for a competition that will select 11 South African artists to become Design Indaba Superstars.

Here is what she has to say about her entry, "I am one of only a very few entrants who uses needlecraft as a medium. I believe that it is a medium that needs more recognition in the art world. I hope that my entry will not only receive votes from people who want to support me, but also from people who support the craft as a medium of expression."  

If you'd like to support Ansie and/or give needlecraft some props, vote here. Check out the other entries, too.  They are pretty awesome!

I was awarded the Sunshine Award by Jo from Sewing Is For Girls.  I'm usually pretty bad about passing these things on, but the Link Fest post is the perfect place to do this ... so here I go!

There are some rules that come with the award which are as follows:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers
- Link the nominees within your post
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

1) Elsie Marley
2) Paperclips And Playpens
3) No More Disco
4) Becka's Project Journal
5) Crochet By Faye
6) Designing Vashti
7) Made By K
8) Ann Wood
9) Bitter Betty
10) Wax & Wool
11) seaschell
12) Green Kitchen

OK, so I'm going to cheat a little  and not go comment on their blogs (some of them read my blog and are actually my friends ... so they don't need a comment from me).  What would be awesome is if you visit them and leave a comment if you see something you like.  You don't have to say I sent you or anything, just share the comment-love with these nice people!

I found this bright, striped Starling Handbag in Daphna's Flickr stream.  Check out her adorable sampler-snakes while you're there!

InStitches52 made this A-freaking-dorable Starling Handbag in Lion Cotton.  She also has another gorgeous one in jute-colored Red Heart Eco-Cotton.  Lots of great photos of the bottom and other details.  BUT, you have to look at all her other crochet work.  She is amazing!  I'm thinking I need a mobius shawl ... and a tiny little girl.

I've been a terrible hostess lately.  I haven't answered comments like I should have.  If you've left a nice comment the last handful of months and I didn't say thank you (ugh! there are so many!) I want to say sorry ... but I personally don't think sorry cuts it.

No.  It sure doesn't .

Actions speak louder than words.  I'm going to try to be a much better hostess in the future.  You'll see. :)

I spent my weekend craft-time coding a "reply" feature that threads my responses in the flow of the comments AND emails them to you.  I can't wait to start using it!  Hey, you know what?  I'm going to spend all my craft time this week going backwards replying to as many comments as I can.  I may not make it all the way back to yours, but I'm going to try.

And, as just a little extra bit of earnestness, my Make & Meaning post for this week is all about how to treat your commenters, because Commenters Are King!

Hello!  Cassidy!  Are you *still* in bed?!  Did you sleep ALL day long?  You know, you had something important to do this morning ...

Cripes!  Who can stay mad at that cute little face?!  I guess 'Hog Along Cassidy is a night owl just like me.

Well, now that you're up, Cassidy, wanna watch a movie?

Well, this one borders on self promotion ...

I won a naming contest on Carina's Craftblog for her latest  embroidery pattern, Bramble Blooms.  Yay me!

How cute is it, though?  She has lots of beautiful embroidery patterns for sale.


The blog Sutton Grace just posted a wonderful ruffled collar t-shirt tutorial.  She used two matching aqua t-shirts she bought for $2.48 each (score!), but I think it would also look cool using two different t-shirts.  In fact, I have one of those tissue tees that is coming apart at the seams that would be a perfect, airy ruffle.  Going to make a note right now ...

Samantha H. was inspired by Lenore and made 6 Octophrosts for her Christmas tree, which is still a HUGE accomplishment.  48 legs are *a lot* of legs.  AND, is that metallic thread!?  Yes it is!  Oh, man, Samantha rocks!

Rachel O. has crocheted10 Starling Handbags since Thanksgiving!  I bet all her friends are happy.  :)  Here are my two favorites.  The blue one has two rows of sparkly blue beads inside the white stripe.  The pink on has the cute, simple flower on the outside and the crazy-fun flower patterned lining.  Great job, Rachel!

Flickr user Aestral posted this adorable Sigmund the Octopus mod (rounder head and different face).

Is that chef hat cuter-than-cute, or what?!  Chef Julius is pretty amazing!

I finished up all my 'hog parts last night for the Groundhog-along.  I only have a couple more days to finish him up!

I'm having so much fun making this little 'hog.  Just look at his little mop of red hair!  I know he looks pissed (that's 'angry' for you brits, not 'drunk'), but he's just a little sleepy.  We stayed up too late watching Groundhog Day (it's available for streaming on Netflix.  rock!).

The fact that I''m supporting an independent designer just makes it even more awesome.  The pattern is only $5 on Planet June, so if you want to join the crochet-along, it won't cost much.  You probably already have everything you need to make one in your stash!

Anyone have any good suggestions for a punny name?  June suggested 'Hog Along Cassidy, which is pretty awesome.  Can you top that?!  'Cause, if you can't, I might need to make him a 10-gallon hat, too.

Perhaps I should have saved up a little bravado from my last post, because this neck-thing I'm about to show you is pretty wonderful, too!

I want to make this as seamless as possible, which I hope means *completely* seamless.  I worked the left and right front pieces until I got to the row that will go under the arm hole and connect it to the back.  Then I started the right and left back pieces starting at the shoulder seam (which is foundation single crochet, aka fsc). The green arrows show you the direction I'm crocheting out from the shoulder seam for the front and back.

The next step is creating the back edge of the neck hole.  The thin link between the left and right back is fsc.  You can see that the back pieces slope in toward each other.  I did this so when I connect everything, the neck hole will curve around my neck.  I got the inspiration for this from seeing this Jewel swatch on Ravelry (similar to this Cinnabar swatch on Doris Chan's blog, which I found later.  She is a crochet genius!).

The row I'm working on now starts at the blue A.  I've worked it up to the blue B ... and I'm getting ready to start working in the fsc.

Here is a close up of that first step.  I've got to tell you, I had this all laid out on the kitchen table in the middle of the night and I was SO excited to see how it was going to turn out.  I would take some photos, crochet a bit while it was still laying on the table, take more photos, then crochet a bit more.  It felt sort of magical that it was *actually* working how I hoped it would work.  I also felt like you were all there with me peeking over my shoulder.

Here is the first back-of-the-neck row finished.  So awesome!  Now I just need to work down the back of the sweater until I get to the row where the bottom of the arm hole is ... then I'll connect the front and back the same way I did this.

I'm not sure how I'm going to attach the fsc to the left back piece.  Does anyone know of a tutorial or example of this anywhere?  I fully plan on trying out all the options myself to figure out which one I like best, but it would be nice to have a place to start. :)

Most of the time, I want to be a nurturing, encouraging craft blogger.  I want to present things in a way that demystifies the process.  I want you to think that you can do any of the things that I do here (and you can!  really!).  I hope this comes across here, on my blog.  I hope you see I'm a person, just like you.

Except for the next few moments ...

... when I want you to think I am a total crochet badass.

Yes, you're seeing that right.  I figured out how to beautifully increase and decrease the peacock pattern.
All right ... back to reality.

What I did was take the pattern in it's small form, and figure out the part I wanted to take out.  See the erased part in the middle?

Then I charted the beginning, and when I got to the row where I was going to start decreasing, I just started erasing stitches, then I'd crochet a little and see how it looked, and then I'd refine my chart with what I actually did.  Then, when  it was time to increase, I did the same thing.

Cake!  Really. :)

Here is the swatch folded in half so you can see the slope of the increase and decrease.  The top edge of the piece in the photo is the flat edge.  The nip of the decrease will help fit the sweater around my chest and the flare of the increase will work perfectly for my hips.  Yay!  I can't wait to try them out IRL!

Here's an extra beauty shot of the increase.  Special thanks to dudecraft for calling me a "total badass" when it comes to crochet.  I mean, he's a dude, so he'd know a total badass when he sees one.  Right?